One of the most interesting aspects of the choice I made this year to review every Argentinian film that came to me either on DVDs, theatrical releases or festivals or other ways of communication, is that I realized that it’s just as prolific, if not even more, than Chilean cinema, and at the same time, it’s also widely varied, something that Chilean cinema does lack. And while there are some failures the majority of the time than not, it’s always interesting to see some sort of intent going on, a style that was perfected and put forward above anything else, and while the style itself wasn’t really interesting, it made the film kinda watchable even if an easy target of hate for me and the majority of the people who end up seeing it.

It’s a shame, specially for this movie, because it has some elements that are really interesting and could really drive me into liking the movie, as well as having some imagery that I’d consider ‘mine’ in terms of filmmaking. There are tarot cards, an almost western-like iconography, a flood, a certainly nice enough cinematography, an outrageous performance that appears out of nowhere near the end of the film to balance things out of proportion, and a story about money hidden away, criminals and things of that kind, but in the middle of the Argentinian countryside. The problem is that it’s one of the most boring experience I had in a theater this year, I fell asleep for ten minutes and it didn’t make a difference, because I knew there was no dialogue and people were still in the same scene!

I know what you’re saying. Leave contemplative cinema alone! Well, no! There’s a difference between the contemplation of an image and just the elongation of its own capabilities just to extend the length of the movie, and while this movie doesn’t really have long shots, it does have long scenes with large stretches of silence, big gaps of moments that make no sense and in the end… boring qualities that bring a movie that could’ve been really good into a middle-of-the-bunch movie that has some interest for those who like these kind of films, but this isn’t for me at all, this is for a crowd that I can’t really understand, and I hope I never understand.

This is my last review of the Argentinian Cinema of 2013, I had many left to write and many movies to see, but I wasn’t able to comply with the promise. So, comments start now! The tribune is open to comments and suggestions. I’ll continue doing the cinema of Chile, as always, but would you like to see me tackle something else in the future? I’m not sure if I’ll continue with Argentinian Cinema, did you like it? Did you not? Do you think I could do this again but with shorter reviews so I can do all the movies I end up watching? Tell me, please!

For now, Merry Christmas, and content will continue all the days until the 31st!

Amicus Productions: Horror-Scifi

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
The Skull (1965)
Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)
The Psychopath (1966)
Dalek's Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)
The Terrornauts (1967)
The Deadly Bees (1967)
They Came from Beyond Space (1967)
Torture Garden (1967)
The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
I, Monster (1971)
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972)Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)-- And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973)
From Beyond the Grave (1974)
Madhouse (1974)
The Beast Must Die (1974)
The Land That Time Forgot (1975)
At the Earth's Core (1976)
The People That Time Forgot (1977)
The Monster Club (1981)

Hammer Pictures: Horror-Fantasy-Sci Fi

The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (1935)
Man in Black (1949)
Dick Barton Strikes Back (1949)
Dick Barton at Bay (1950)
Four Sided Triangle (1953)
Spaceways (1953)
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
X: The Unknown (1956)The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Quatermass 2 (1957)
The Abominable Snowman (1957)
Tales of Frankenstein (1958)Dracula (1958)The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
The Mummy (1959)
The Stranglers of Bombay (1960)The Brides of Dracula (1960)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
The Terror of the Tongs (1961)
Taste of Fear (1961)
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
Shadow of the Cat (1961)
Captain Clegg (1962)
The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Paranoiac (1963)
The Damned (1963)
Maniac (1963)
The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)
The Old Dark House (1963)
Nightmare (1964)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
The Gorgon (1964)
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)
Fanatic (1965)
She (1965)
The Nanny (1965)
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
The Reptile (1966)
Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966)
The Witches (1966)
One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Slave Girls (1967)
The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Journey to Midnight (1968)
Journey into Darkness (1968)
The Vengeance of She (1968)
The Lost Continent (1968)
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
"Journey to the Unknown" (1968)Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (1969)
Moon Zero Two (1969)Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Crescendo (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)
The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)Scars of Dracula (1970)
Lust for a Vampire (1971)
Countess Dracula (1971)
Creatures the World Forgot (1971)
Twins of Evil (1971)
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)
Hands of the Ripper (1971)
Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971)
Vampire Circus (1972)Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
Straight on Till Morning (1972)
Fear in the Night (1972)
Demons of the Mind (1972)The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
"Hammer House of Horror" (1980)
"Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense" (1984)
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1984)
Beyond the Rave (2008)
Let Me In (2010)The Resident (2011)